For composition #5, I searched the backyard again. (I miss Sycamore Grove park.) Not much in the backyard, especially at 4 pm, before the sun is low in the sky. This morning I had reread the section on armature in Ian Roberts' book, and I was looking for an armature that would hold my daily composition together. Something easy, preferably.
It turns out I had used a triangle armature (converging lines) without even thinking about it in my single pear composition (the two lines where the table top meets the wall). And my area of interest fell on those lines. These are all good things. I just wish I had done them on purpose instead of by accident. So when I set out to find something to work on in the backyard, I kept the possible armatures from the book in my head.
There were some nice shadows across the patio and sliding glass door, so I positioned one of our patio chairs in the light, half shade, half shadow, creating (so I thought), a nice L armature. Took me 1.5 hours to set up the composition, [poorly] draw it, and shade it. UGH. Next assignment, practice drawing those chair arms. I think that would greatly increase my seeing/drawing skills. And when all was said and done, I had an L armature, but the focal area, the chair, was not at the intersection but rather out on its own. FAIL.
So what happens in 1.5 hours of drawing? The shadows CHANGE. Not just a little change, a BIG change, like there weren't any more shadows on the chair. Luckily I had taken a photo of the scene when I first started drawing, so I could refer back to that. And this is where I learned just how inadequate my iPhone is for capturing a photo with the level of shadow detail I need for a value drawing. (I wonder if my expensive camera would be better. Another assignment.) The photo showed where the shadows were, but it didn't show the right values. How did I know? I used Ian's advice of looking at the current shadow in a similar place for value and color. What looked like black on my photo was really a dark gray and sometimes a mid gray. The photo just didn't have the information I needed. Lesson learned: a value drawing is what I'm going to need to make a good painting, not a quick photo from my phone.
One last thing, to follow up on yesterday's post. I painted the pear with "wrong" colors, using a Bob Burridge color scheme. I thought I was being so daring but in reality I just moved one step on the color wheel to orange. And now my pear looks like a gourd. I think this would be great for a pumpkin, but my brain just says it's a "wrong" pear. I think I need to do something crazy, like make the pear magenta or turquoise. Another assignment! And maybe I could also consider a warm/cool color shift while painting. How many new assignments does that make? They are piling up, but I have to admit, I'm liking this self-directed learning, and I feel like I am making progress in my art, finally.
New assignments:
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| Composition #4, with mutated chair. |
There were some nice shadows across the patio and sliding glass door, so I positioned one of our patio chairs in the light, half shade, half shadow, creating (so I thought), a nice L armature. Took me 1.5 hours to set up the composition, [poorly] draw it, and shade it. UGH. Next assignment, practice drawing those chair arms. I think that would greatly increase my seeing/drawing skills. And when all was said and done, I had an L armature, but the focal area, the chair, was not at the intersection but rather out on its own. FAIL.
So what happens in 1.5 hours of drawing? The shadows CHANGE. Not just a little change, a BIG change, like there weren't any more shadows on the chair. Luckily I had taken a photo of the scene when I first started drawing, so I could refer back to that. And this is where I learned just how inadequate my iPhone is for capturing a photo with the level of shadow detail I need for a value drawing. (I wonder if my expensive camera would be better. Another assignment.) The photo showed where the shadows were, but it didn't show the right values. How did I know? I used Ian's advice of looking at the current shadow in a similar place for value and color. What looked like black on my photo was really a dark gray and sometimes a mid gray. The photo just didn't have the information I needed. Lesson learned: a value drawing is what I'm going to need to make a good painting, not a quick photo from my phone.
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| Pear from composition #4 in different colors. Not what I expected. |
One last thing, to follow up on yesterday's post. I painted the pear with "wrong" colors, using a Bob Burridge color scheme. I thought I was being so daring but in reality I just moved one step on the color wheel to orange. And now my pear looks like a gourd. I think this would be great for a pumpkin, but my brain just says it's a "wrong" pear. I think I need to do something crazy, like make the pear magenta or turquoise. Another assignment! And maybe I could also consider a warm/cool color shift while painting. How many new assignments does that make? They are piling up, but I have to admit, I'm liking this self-directed learning, and I feel like I am making progress in my art, finally.
New assignments:
- Practice drawing chair arms.
- Photograph same scene with RX100 and compare shadow results to iPhone photo.
- Paint pear with REALLY weird colors, like maybe magenta or turquoise.
- Paint pear with warms in the highlights and cools in the shadows, maybe in reds.
- Paint pear with watercolors (previous post).
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